Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: movies

  • Late Night Camp

    Late Night Camp

    Saturday night, after CFO, I met up with my fellow Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls ladies, Jenny and Rebecca, to go to a late night showing of the 1980’s cult slasher film, Sleepaway Camp which was followed by a live Q&A with Felissa Rose who starred as Angela in the film.

    Studio 35 is an amazing local privately owned movie theatre that also houses a bar and a pizza shop. They had a special drink menu for the event that included the Don’t Drown and the Camp Arawak. There were more, but I forgot to take a picture of the menu and can only remember the one’s I ordered. We shared a pizza called PELE’S CURSE which has a GARLIC EVOO base, house cheese, capicola ham, pineapple, ricotta, almonds, cinnamon. It might not have been my first choice but it was very good. We also shared a loaded popcorn that included reese’s pieces and m&ms. I bought myself a box of sweettarts.

    I was familiar with Sleepaway Camp, but had never seen it. I had an idea what the twist was, but had no idea how it played out in the film. The film is ridiculous, overacted, campy, and so much fun. I was not expecting the ending in any way, which made it almost more fun. Felissa Rose came out before the film to introduce it and give some fun little tidbits of info. She also found a member of the audience who knew absolutely nothing about the film, so she came back before the end of the film to watch his face as he saw the ending. After the film she did a Q&A which was great; she was open, warm and very funny. And she obviously has a lot of affection for the film that began her career. It was a great night and I am so glad Jenny suggested we go.

    Speaking of Ghosts, Girls, Ghouls a new episode should be dropping this week. Find us by searching for ZTOTV on your favorite podcast service.

  • Magic Crabs and Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls

    Magic Crabs and Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls

    My friend, Jenny, has a podcast with her friend Jean-Paul called WTF Did I Just Watch on Zombie Take Over T.V. A couple of weeks ago she sent me a message asking if I would be interested in doing a guest spot on the podcast to talk about the 1999 Rom-Com Simply Irresistible starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Yeah, Buffy!!) and Sean Patrick Flanery (Boondock Saints and Powder…hmm…). I, of course, said yes and we began to make plans to record a podcast talking about this truly bizarre movie. We will be recording February 12 and it should be a fun conversation if you are interested.

    A couple of days after this I got another message from Jenny sent to myself and a couple other women asking if we would be interested in co-hosting a new podcast where we would talk about classic horror movies from the silent age through the 70s. Myself and Rebecca immediately said we would so we began to plot and plan. The result is Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls found for subscription here. We will be talking all things classical spooky like Vincent Price, Universal Horror, Silent Horror, modern remakes, and so much more. We are planning to record monthly and our first episode will be recorded in mid-March. We will also be holding a getting to know you Q&A February 13th on Facebook Live.

    I am very excited about this and what else might be coming in the next several months. If any of this sounds interesting to you please check us out.

  • The Craft…The Witch Movie That Changed My Life

    The Craft…The Witch Movie That Changed My Life

    In 1996 when The Craft hit theatres I went to see it with my friend Jerid, and we were afraid we were going to be id’ed because we were not 18 (We were both 15) and it was rated R. It released toward the end of the school year my Freshman year of high school, and by Fall and school starting I was wearing short tartan skirts with chunky shoes and I had bought by first “witchy” book and a copy of The Witches’ Almanac. I would begin calling myself a Wiccan that year, which I later ammended to Eclectic Cottage Witch.

    The Craft, which was the story of a group of young women finding their power through witchcraft, and inevitably finding it is not what they thought. With great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz. It also came with a great friendship for a time. I wanted to be one of those girls: beautiful, powerful and just a little fucked up, lol.

    Strange Halloween tribute to The Craft featuring my Funko Pops made to filter out a messy background, lol.

    This movie shaped little Betsy in a way that I could not begin to explain. I wish I had good pictures of me during this time, but cell phones weren’t a thing yet and we almost never carried cameras. I know I was cute as hell.

    I know a sequel to The Craft is set to come out this year, and I am going into it with trepidation and maybe a little hope. I am loving some of the obvious nods to the original film, and I am interested to see how they work Nancy Downs into it based on the trailer.

    I love this film with the passion of a 15 year old girl who snuck in to a film about other teen girls coming into their power. That is some powerful shit right there. And honestly I would still dress like that if given the option.

    Is there a movie that just hit at the right time for you? What was it?

    I drink of my sisters and take into myself…

  • My Pre-Halloween Streaming

    My husband and I have been doing some spooky movie/ tv show watching over the last couple of weeks and there have been some seriously fun and good ones and some fun and terrible ones, but here are some of the standouts for me.

    Little Monsters (Hulu): Lupita Nyong’o is absolutely radiant in this zombie horror film about a field trip gone wrong. Also features Josh Gad in a role that had to be so much fun to play. It was campy, good horror comedy. Highly recommended.

    Zomboat (Hulu): This is another zombie based horror comedy, but a series this time. It is funny, very British, and only one season 6 episodes so very bingable. Hoping there will be a second season because ot os genuinely fun.

    Night of the Demons (Amazon): This movie was released in 1988 and it is a good old fashioned 80s slasher flick. I want the goth bride outfit from this badly. So bad it is good. Stars Linnea Quigley, which is a plus.

    Fright Night (Amazon): The original 1985, which I have seen before, but have renewed my love for. Chris Sarandon is wonderfully smarmy. Posits the theory that Vampirism makes your hair grow to be longer and a different color. Roddy McDowall overacts to raise the dead.

    The Cabin in the Woods (Hulu): I admit I am late on this one. I watched it because one of my podcasts (Talk from Superheroes) was discussing it and they highly recommended not spoiling the film. It was a very entertaining film. Superb twists throughout.

    We have watched more, but these are the ones that stood out. Have you been watching scary/halloweeny movies? What are you watching?

  • Headstones and Hitchcock

    Headstones and Hitchcock

    .A couple of weeks ago, Seth and I set off to explore Green Lawn Cemetery. Green Lawn is a large historical cemetery in Columbus.There are a number of “famous” Columbus figures buried within the cemetery and the abbey. I am a huge fan of walking in cemeteries, and this one was beautiful to visit. The grounds are full of beautiful trees of all kinds: oak, maidenhair ginkgo, various evergreens, and Ohio buckeye.

    I brought a plastic bag so I could pick up litter as we walked about, and Seth was happy removing branches that were laying atop grave sites and making piles under the trees. We cleaned grass off of markers that had been covered when the mowers moved through. We are talking about making a kit to take with us to make our cleanup easier next time with a small broom.

    We found a headstone of a type which I have never seen before. Where a headstone may say mother, father, sister, brother, etc. this one said Aunt. I loved it so much, and even more interesting was the fact that the Aunt in question had the fist name Salome. I believe that Aunt Salome is my spirit sister. I am absolutely in love with anyone who dies and is best known for being an aunt.

    The abbey at Green Lawn shows films outdoors to raise funds for upkeep during the summer. We went last Friday to see Notorious directed by Alfred Hitchcock. We got to visit the actual abbey, which is gorgeous with white marble and wrought iron. The film was entertaining. It was a Hitchcock I had never seen before, but it was very entertaining. There was an absolutely insane drunk driving scene that made me very tense, but Cary Grant who was actually in the car with the drunk driver Ingrid Bergman seemed generally unfazed. I love a good spy thriller though, so generally it was a good time. Next month they are showing Laura and in August The House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price. We intend to see those as well. There is something so lovely about watching a thriller with the abbey looming above us.

  • Vampire Obsessed Girl Redux…Vamps on Film

    In my previous post I shared my favorite vampire fiction in books, so today I thought I would share my favorite vampire films. I love many different types of vampire movies; some that are serious and some that are campy fun. Vampires are some of my favorite folklore and I love even the most ridiculous forms they take. Here are some of my absolute favorites.

    Do you have a favorite vampire movie?

  • This is Halloween…Movie Edition.

    Since it is finally October I can begin my Halloween movie watching. I am a huge fan of both cheesy kids Halloween movies and spooky, scary movies. Here in no particular order are some of my favorites:

    This is obviously not exhaustive, but these are the ones I watch every single year. I enjoy horror movies, but I don’t really have a favorite one. I love old horror films, though, especially ones with Vincent Price like the House on Haunted Hill or The Masque of the Red Death.

    Do you have a favorite Halloween movie?

     

  • The Comedy Brilliance of What We Do In The Shadows

    In 2014 when a comedy film about a group of vampires sharing a home in the modern world was released I watched it eagerly having no idea what to expect. What I got was one of the funniest films I had ever seen. The film addressed how awkward it would be for them to fit in the modern world, how hard it can be to seduce a victim, and even the reason they always prey on virgins. Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement lead an amazing cast who grasp the concept with such sincerity that the ridiculousness of the characters is tempered. It quickly became one of my favorite films.

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    Imagine then my excitement when it was announced that a TV series based on the films would be coming to FX. My excitement built as I found out that they had cast Matt Berry for the series. I had watched the series Toast of London on Netflix and kind of fallen in love with Matt. He can do bombastic and pompous better than possibly anyone. The very idea of him made me excited even as I was disappointed that Taika and Jemaine would not be returning.

    The series would prove to be just as funny as the film, and keeps much of the aesthetic that this is a reality show about Vampires being followed by a film crew. The vampires in question are quite old, and slightly complacent, and not altogether very threatening. In the series we are following the married vampires Lazslo and Nadja, Nandor and his familiar Guillermo, and their roommate Colin Robinson who is a psychic vampire who feeds on people by sucking their energy away by being incredibly boring. Guillermo is hoping that Nandor will eventually make him a vampire. Nadja, who is played wonderfully by the gorgeous Natasia Demetriou, can play exasperated with fangs with a passion rarely seen.

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    I want so badly to spoil a particular episode which involves the vampire council, but I won’t. Watch it, and then message me to discuss.

  • The Beautiful Batshit of Freeform Christmas Movies

    The Beautiful Batshit of Freeform Christmas Movies

    Playing in the hulu holiday movie queue the other day I was delighted to stumble upon a cache of Freeform Christmas movies. Several years ago I had found what was to become a favorite holiday film, the Freeform presentation The Twelve Dates of Christmas, and since then I am mildly obsessed with the amazing and insane offerings that Freeform creates around the holidays.

    One of my favorites of all time is The Twelve Dates of Christmas starring Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. The movie centers around a woman who enters Christmas Eve hung up on her ex, set up on a blind date by her step mother whom she is resentful of, and being generally a little high strung. She finds herself reliving this day again and again until she gets things right, including falling in love with the blind date Miles. This is essentially Groundhog Day for Christmas, only we know she only has 12 dates to get it right.  Favorite Batshit Moment: Miles’ wife died a year ago by falling off a ladder while cleaning out the gutters.

    12dates

    My current favorite which is not new, but is new to me this year, is The Spirit of Christmas starring Thomas Beaudoin and Jen Lilley. Kate is a lawyer specializing in estate issues, and she needs to sell an inn that is supposedly haunted, but can’t get an appraiser to stay long enough to finish the job. She drives to the inn to force the appraisal and instead meets incredibly good looking ghost Daniel who becomes corporeal for 12 days beginning on December 13th but he has no idea why. Kate decides to help him find the answers in the hope of getting him to cross over so she can sell the property. Does she instead fall in love with a ghost? Does he somehow become corporeal for good? You will have to watch to find out. The movie is worth it for Daniel being ridiculously good looking, oh and there is murder and bootlegging, you know typical Christmas fare.

    Image result for the spirit of christmas

    Other favorites of mine are :

    Snow: The current Santa comes to California to retrieve a missing reindeer and falls in love with a cute zookeeper.

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    Christmas Cupid: A PR specialist is haunted by the starlet she represented after she dies choking on an olive until she can fix her messy personal life.

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    Santa Baby: Santa’s daughter, a high powered exec, returns to the North Pole after her father suffers a heart attack to help out and to learn how to love again.

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    Holiday in Handcuffs: A harangued artist kidnaps a patron from the restaurant she works at and takes him home for Christmas to play her boyfriend for a weekend in a cabin with her family.

    Image result for snow freeform

    These movies defy convention, and provide a much needed distraction from the typical holiday pablum some channels provide. A large portion of these films can be found on Hulu if you are so inclined to sit back, suspend reality, and let the crazy flow.

    Happy Watching!!

    And Merry Christmas!!

     

  • What I am loving: Movies of the 80s edition

    What I am loving: Movies of the 80s edition

    Playing on Amazon Prime one day I found the movie Earth Girls are Easy, a particular favorite of mine from when I was younger. If you are unfamiliar with this particular film it centers around Gina Davis’ character Valerie and what happens when an alien ship crash lands in her pool. The furry aliens are shaved and reveal themselves to be Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans and Jeff Goldblum. Valerie is just trying to keep them “safe” while waiting for her pool to be drained by a surfer dude named Woody, played by Michael McKean. There is sex, weird super feel good touching, dance battles, musical sequences and eventually a happy and slightly bizzare ending.

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    I thoroughly enjoyed my latest watching of this film and was conveying as much to my sister-in-law, Niki, when she mentioned a movie she remembered from the eighties with Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper. I am a movie buff and was shocked that I had no knowledge of this film. Niki recalled that the movie was called Vibes. Well it wasn’t on streaming anywhere, but I found a copy of the dvd for sale on Amazon, so I ordered it.

    Vibes is about a couple of psychics, Goldblum and Lauper, being used to recover some kind of treasure in South America by Peter Falk. Lauper plays a woman who channels a spirit which tells her important things, and Goldblum is a man who can touch an object and tell you where it has been. Overall the movie is an entertaining romp, and Lauper is ADORABLE in it. I wanted 90% of her clothing, and enjoyed her performance so much.

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    Then yesterday I decided to hop into yet another 80s film with Desperately Seeking Susan, a film I know I watched as a kid but that left no impression except that Madonna is cool. Rewatching it I thoroughly enjoyed the punk aesthetic, and the mistaken identity/ amnesia story. Roberta’s husband was appealingly skeezy, Roberta adorably naive, Dez (played by Aiden Quinn much to my delight) charmingly frustrated, and Susan breezily chill and confident. I genuinely enjoyed watching it again for the first time, since I had forgotten everything but the fact that it starred Madonna.

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    More than anything, though, I am in love with the style of the female characters in these films. My freak/punk/goth heart swelled at the fishnet, petticoats, lace, boots, ornate jackets and leather. It sent me down a rabbit hole on Pinterest. Are there any other 80s movies I should revisit? Let me know in the comments.

    Here are some images of amazing styles from the three films.